Knowledgebase

knowledgebase Category: Flowers

Flower refers to the “smokable” part of the cannabis plant.

More specifically, it is the flower that has been harvested from the female cannabis plant and which contains an abundance of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as well as other cannabinoids and terpenes.

Flower is the most recognized, versatile, and widely used part of the plant. It can be smoked, vaporized, or used to make concentrates and edibles.

Two Types of Flower

When you visit the dispensary, there’s two different types of flower products you can purchase:

  • Loose flower: Clumps or nuggets of flower that are packaged and sold in 1-gram or 3.5-gram (1/8 oz) packages. Also referred to as “bud.”
  • Pre-rolls: For people who like smoking joints but don’t like rolling them, dispensaries offer pre-rolled joints. You can purchase a single pre-roll as well as an entire package.

Flower Consumption Methods

Joints

A joint is perhaps the oldest method of smoking flower.

While it requires a bit of prep work to grind the flower, put it into the joint, and properly roll it all together, it’s also extremely low-tech and doesn’t require costly accessories.

Blunts

The classic blunt is essentially a cannabis cigar – a massive joint made using cigar paper. You can make your own blunts by purchasing a regular cigar, cutting it open, and replacing the tobacco with cannabis.

Blunts are universally loved because they can hold more cannabis than the average joint. Plus, cigar paper is made out of tobacco leaf, which contributes to the overall psychoactive experience.

Pipes

Pipes are non-fussy, discreet, and easily transportable. Most are made out of ceramic material, but there also pipes made from metal, wood, and silicone.

Bongs

A water pipe, popularly known as a “bong,” is a quintessential symbol of cannabis consumption.

A bong is simply a large pipe that uses water and ice as a filtration method.

Although there is debate over whether smoking from a bong offers a “cleaner” experience than smoking an unfiltered joint, the ritual of bong-smoking still resonates powerfully with cannabis users worldwide.

Vaporizers

A vaporizer allows people to consume cannabis flower while avoiding the negative impacts of smoking.

Vaporizers work by heating the flower at a specific temperature so that the cannabinoids and terpenes are released in vapor form. Then you inhale the vapor the same way you would inhale smoke.

A vaporizer can be of great benefit to your lungs and body, since you’re not inhaling smoke-based carcinogens.

How to Store Cannabis Flower

Cannabis flower has three main enemies: light, heat, and air. Exposure to all three can shorten the shelf life of your flower and degrade the cannabinoids and terpenes therein.

A low-cost storage option is a Mason jar, which has a protective, airtight seal.

Once you’ve sealed your cannabis inside the jar, store it in a drawer or cabinet to keep it out of sunlight.

If possible, keep your flower in the coolest part of your house or apartment, especially away from heat-generating appliances, so that you can preserve the flower’s freshness.